Doomed Lord Fiske
by JeffC FTW
Summary: In Yono's hell, Monkey Fist's torture is in every form eternal. When Bates and his loyal monkey ninjas bring him back to the flesh, his suffering takes a turn for the worse and threatens more than his broken sanity. Dark and VERY disturbing. Fourth in the Monkey Fist Saga.
1. A Soul Torn Apart

**I couldn't resist doing another fic of poor Monty Fiske walking the path of the Yono - and it's a much darker path than he expected, that ANY of us would have expected. Because of MaceEcam's "The Path of the Yono" as well as my fics inspired by it, I still have so many ideas of the ghastly but intriguing wonders that the fallen monkey man endures with the simian devil he made the fated deal with. "Doomed Lord Fiske" which deals with his return to the world (Bates and the monkey ninjas rescued him, at the beginning of "The Monkey King Takes His Queen", in case no one read my saga) , but his experiences have damaged him emotionally and psychologically so. It also details more between him and the Yono. I even had it in me to title it similarly to one of my favorite books, "Doomed Queen Anne" by Carolyn Meyer (a historical fiction insight into the life of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Elizabeth I).**

 **Warning: sensitive material consists of rape, nudity, masturbation, suicidal thoughts and psychological trauma. If no one likes this material, I won't force anyone to read it. But either way, this was really interesting to do as it concerns our very own monkey man.**

 **I don't own anything.**

Chapter One

A Soul Torn Apart

 _How much time had passed now?_

 _It was an eternity in this place where time meant nothing. The only one who kept track for him was the one whose unpleasant company he shared in the dark hell he now resided in. This was his fate: to please the dark god he sold his soul to in order to become the Ultimate Monkey Master...but only a handful of young people stood in his way._

 _Everything he ever wanted came down to this._

 _It had been some time since his last session with the Yono. He moaned, the sound echoing throughout the endless space of black. He knew no directions, no place to run free, and nothing to feel but one thing. He no longer starved, chilled or heated - and he no longer saw what was coming. In addition, he no longer had anything to hide the modesty stripped to reveal. He was naked in the darkness, destined to be this way when his time came to be unleashed as the new Dark Destroyer in many more years to come. When the next unfortunate soul came to him, bargaining his or her own spirit for insatiable appetites, he would have nothing to hide and nothing but to switch his place for the freedom he desired._

 _Or rather, would he ever gain that power he was promised only to be trapped like a lost soul?_

 _He should have repented by now, but it was too late to atone for his sins. He looked back on his life, regretting none of what he did, but one: he should have paid attention to the ancient texts more carefully, should have avoided the myth of the Yono altogether. Yes, he'd been blinded by his own arrogance - an arrogance he prided himself on. He believed in himself, knew he could have had everything he wanted because it was HE who discovered the Mystical Monkey Power that no one else had in centuries. He should have been the ultimate master and not Stoppable, wherever he was now. His hate for the pretender added to the agony he suffered._

 _He whimpered. His body endured a new kind of pain not related to his emotions. Much of the time, he was unable to move, disabled because it was under the command of the one who controlled his fate. Whereas his limbs were stiff, his upper body rigid with paralysis - a form of it - his groin ached. This altar which was made for one experience only pounded with the need for the only one in his personal Tartarus. He was in this state because of the other being's personal enjoyment, to watch him and see how long he could last without what they had always done. As a small miracle, his body would not shut down permanently from too much activity at the Yono's desire._

Unable to take any more?

Stop this right now. You can do anything else but leave me like this.

Ah, you do not enjoy feeling the pleasure without my touch, eh?

 _He wanted to growl, but there was no will of his own to do so. His own body was not his own to control anymore. If he wasn't going to return as he once was, this was all he had to...be "entertained" with in this place. He would no longer have the company of another this way again in his former world. He savored one brief joy before she had to leave him._

My pet - _He moaned at the nickname used for him._ \- you are doomed to be mine until another frees you and bargains with you as we bargained. Answer me; you enjoy my touch.

 _Doomed..._ Yes. _It was all a lie; he loathed the touch. Loathed the way it made his body react against his emotional wishes. If Yono detected the falsehood, he dare not say so or would not care. He only rumbled._

Isn't it funny, after all this time, I now remember a couple things we have not tried yet?

What now?

I have left you this way for a few months now, to see how you would respond after so many times with me. Apparently, your body's urges in this life are far more advanced than in your mortal life. Your desires have turned against you, Monty.

 _A few months?! It seemed longer than that. He sighed but could not close his eyes._ You've said all of this before. I don't need to be reminded again.

No, you don't need it. However, speaking of desire...have you ever _been_ with another human being? A...female specifically?

 _Oh, God..._

 _He remembered thinking briefly back to the single night with the feisty redheaded teenage heroine in his castle, now left to Bates in his will; the whole world would believe he was dead within some more years to come, he was sure of it. They would no longer remember him as Lord Monty Fiske, renowned and respected explorer and scholar - only Monkey Fist, the power-hungry maniac the media explained him as. He half-agreed, aware of everything he did but prided himself on._

 _Yono sealed his doom by confirming that everyone had been right when he said he was arrogant and brash, blinded by his selfish needs. He refused to give the deity the satisfaction of that, even though he looked back with some twinges of regret - but he wouldn't give the benefit to this one now. He held his silence until he felt the tip of the tail come and blaringly caress him where he ached, specifically the place which joined his legs together, covered with fur colored like his head, his hands and feet as well as any other part of his body that wasn't sensitive. Sometimes he wondered why hair resided between the legs on both woman and man; maybe it was because it existed as proof that humanity truly DID descend from simians._

Monty...I'm not a very patient being.

 _He decided to lie._ No. I've never - _Unfortunately, his fable was seen through, for the tail pressed down and then tugged the hair just to cause him to jerk._

You think you can lie and deny me satisfaction? I know when one is lying; I always see and smell from a mile away. Tell me...what was she like?

 _No one should ever know his secret passions but himself, but he had no choice. Yono never stopped until he got what he wanted - and in a sick, twisted sense, that was Monty in common._ Fiercely strong, driven, dedicated and independent. Very much like..

Yourself.

Yes, myself.

What else? Pray tell me, indulge me. I want to know more about her.

She had the body and visage of a goddess, in mortal form. A flying mane of fire even when it was calmly resting against her body, the flesh of honey beneath the sun, silken to the touch. Her muscle structure was hardly the justice of the average woman, for such a young girl... _He stopped there. To even TALK about her was humiliating, a disgrace to the memory that he shared with her and himself only, short-lived as it was. No one deserved to know about it -_

Go on. What about the most important areas of her body? _There was vaguely the hint of a sly smile twisting the monkey's lips as he savored the details, hungered for more._

 _His own body stirred._ Like I said, silken skin that I tasted and caressed, smelling like strawberries in the sun. Her breasts were plump as the ripest of peaches, her thighs joined to form a sacred temple housing the richest treasure that the worthiest deserved, hidden by a forest of fire like the waterfall over her back and her shoulders. Everything about her was vivid and fine, and it was only me to make that claim upon her...

Hmmm...I believe I recall WHO you are referring to.

I do not wish to discuss her any longer.

 _Unfortunately, his wish was denied once again._ What was her name?

Put me out of my misery. _If he were completely functional, he would have folded his arms across his chest and lifted his chin in defiance._ I won't tell you another detail about her. _He yelped when the pressure on his groin turned into a pinch, in every part._

Once more: I am the master, not you. Now, her name or your pleasure will turn into a pain you never imagined in your misery.

Fine! Kimberly.

Ah, lovely. I confess that I would have enjoyed the true sight of her had the circumstances differed. It's been centuries since I have had the company of a woman, Monty. I envy you for that.

Envy me that I savored her body with mine?!

Yes, in a sense. However, you wanted her again after that one time, but it was ripped from you, was it not?

 _His wounds were being reopened again._ Yes. She left me before the morning broke. We both knew this was only meant for that night, but a part of me wished it wouldn't be that way. From the moment we met and then on, it was like our souls mated in the most grievous of circumstances. I had my reasons for calling her, and she was everything I had been deprived of in my youthful time.

That is a pity. And what's moreso, it's a shame that she will move on from you with your final actions against her. Her petrified form atop my temple...your form of revenge against her for bruising your pride, leaving you in an empty bed after such a salacious night...

STOP THIS!

 _Yono never responded to that, and then something very strange was happening to him then. His body had been restrained by unseen chains the entire time, darkness blanketing his vision and senses...but now his surroundings had changed altogether. The blackness turned to gray, eventually white and blinding him..._

 _...and then a burst of color which made him cry out in shocked surprise._

 _"Monty?"_

 _He stopped upon becoming aware of the VOICE that spoke to him, from behind. That was not all; he felt and saw that he was in a bed, covered with silk and cotton -_ his bed. _He was in his bed, in his ancestral castle, and sunlight was pouring in through the window, covering him and warming him. He never thought he would see the sunlight again. What had happened? How did he get here?_

 _A soft but strong hand rested on his bare bicep, prompting him to find a pair of glowing jade eyes filled with a tirade of emotion meeting his. "Monty?" she repeated, and he felt like his heart had stopped when he tore his gaze from her and looked down, seeing the sheets brought up to cover her chest as she looked at him, waiting for his answer._

 _"Kimberly," was all he could get out._

 _She'd stayed...she'd stayed because she didn't want him to wake up alone. It made him frown. But...why? How did they end up here? He wasn't sure what was going on anymore...but it didn't matter now. The point was that she was here. She had given in to her passion that he unleashed from himself. She stayed with him on her own will, and he was willing to go for another round before he let her go back home where he knew she was missed. Another time would be best for them, now that she would someday become his Monkey Queen._

 _The tanzanite necklace still rested over her heart, glittering in the sunlight and reflecting the ocean on a stormy day. A storm clearing to show a beautiful day mocking the heavens. He found it in himself to lean over and place a kiss above the trinket, caressing her skin with his lips. She sighed in response. Then her hands came up and caressed the place behind his ears, then moved back to massage his scalp, tangling his hair. She pulled him closer to her so his face rested over her heart. It was so blissfully content that he didn't want this moment to end._

 _"I thought you'd never leave me."_

 _"Why would I without thanking you for a memorable night?"_

 _He purred against her when her hands began to crawl down his neck, massaging his back and shoulders, pleasing him. "I thought you would never acknowledge last night as such...would you savor one more time before I let you return to Middleton?" he asked, raising his head and giving her an impish smile that she returned shyly._

 _"I don't suppose it will hurt. As long as you don't keep me from missing a day of school," she teased, nuzzling his nose and making him rumble before taking his lips against hers. His arms wrapped around her body and pulled her close. Her firm breasts rubbed against his chest; he leaned down and gently kissed the tops of the domes, drawing dreamy moans from her. Already, she was wet with forbidden heat for him, and he felt himself clench in his own place. No intentions of keeping her from her life, but one more moment..._

 _He let loose a shriek when a sudden burst of pain erupted below his waist as her thigh came to rub against him. What happened?! Abruptly, the beautiful moment was ruined when the agony ripped through him and forced him to throw back the sheets, exposing her body and his...and the most damning, horrendous and abominable sight greeted him._

 _Blood stained the white sheets, and where it came from made him scream with incomprehensible terror and ghastly oblivion that he began to sink into just by looking at himself. His groin area had been grotesquely mutilated when he didn't even feel or was even aware - no flesh, no pubic hair, no genitals, just a graphic, visceral red mound where everything about his manhood should be, gore dripping down his legs in thick, crimson streams onto pure white beneath him..._

 _And then it was all gone, sucking him through a vortex, white-hot fire turning maddening red...and then he was back in the darkness, unable to move or acknowledge what was happening around him anymore. No...no..._

Was that worth being with me? Seeing her one more time...?

YOU MONSTER! _he roared._ YOU DID THIS TO ME! YOU INVADED MY INNERMOST -

Because it was my right. You are in my realm, and I can please myself however I want. And that includes seeing what you desired most...and now you can reminisce how you had your chance with her, did not do a fine job at keeping her, and therefore blamed her instead of yourself.

How dare you accuse me of this! I could not have kept her forever, no matter how much I wanted to, or even tried to! She would have been searched globalwide, and even if she'd been found, she would have been ripped from my arms! _he argued to no avail, and the devil laughed cruelly as though it were the greatest joke he'd heard._

See, you are a fool. How can you think you deserve her? You think power would have brought her to accept you - you who were ignorant and selfish?

Ignorant how? _Selfish_ how?

You thought you could have everything you wanted without regarding the consequences, and you thought you could be happy with a great power you never understood. You will never truly understand this part, will you, Monty? Well, if I can't get through to you on this, then perhaps something else will suffice.

 _He gasped when a smaller, furry form came over his body, between his parted legs where he throbbed and burned. There was no wet heat any longer, as it had all been in his mind, instilled by this creature which tormented his mind. He was wrong; Kimberly_ enjoyed _her time with him, but her rationality overtook her needs in the end. As for Monty himself, he knew what he wanted for himself, but it was taken from him...now he was left with nothing from now on but - his thoughts were cut off when something long wrapped around the stiff heat between his thighs, and it wasn't the tail. Somehow Yono extended himself to twine around Monty, substituting for a female. He gasped, unable to control himself as rough meat rubbed with a smoother form, friction firing up between their bodies._

You honestly think she would ever take you again, even if you ever did return to her - knowing you are _mine_ now?

 _He wished he could wither away here and now, damned to his core and unable to shove away the accursed word used to call a person who sold their body for what they craved most. He would not let the word whore come to mind...no...he would not..._

 _It was over then, the friction subsiding, before the master himself declared a brand new position that he never thought they would ever get to._ I've tasted you between your legs, Monty, but now I get to again - and now, at the same time, you get to do the same for me. I will get my pleasure from you in return. The time has come.

 _If every other position was bad enough, this had to be -_

 _Wait, what was happening?_

 _The instant Yono's dangerous mouth was ravishing his innermost altar, the next thing he was aware of was a great fire spreading throughout his body. This feeling had never been so...powerful before. It was like he was actually being burned alive, and the last thing he was aware of was Yono's roar of rage, but before he could cry out and ask what was happening to him -_

~o~

Grass.

Cold air.

The distant music of water.

He could feel, smell, _hear._

Darkness was before his eyes. However, he was aware of everything around him that he found he could open his eyelids, and found himself laying facedown on a stretch of earth, the feel of grass caressing his nude flesh now that he knew where he was now.

He was back in the world. He had been restored to the flesh...but _how?_

Fiske found he could gather his thoughts again, aware that Yono was not here, and now he knew why the monkey god was so angered. He had been rescued. The familiar screeching of monkeys told him that his loyal monkey ninjas were around him, overjoyed their master was with them again, yet he felt his body and his being overcome with a mild, involuntary form of paralysis that he wasn't sure what to do. He had never felt so vulnerable, so exposed and unsure of what to say or do. He hadn't wanted them to see him like this. His clothing gone, removed in the other world, but at least every inch of his body was still intact...

And then there was another voice - a voice he never thought he would hear again. "Milord!"

"B-Bates," he uttered, overcome with a mix of emotions. He was alive - alive as it could be interpreted - free and in the company of those he knew he could count on, but that left the one person who now rushed to his side, the hand resting on his shoulder making him flinch because the last time he saw his once-loyal valet, he'd lost faith in the man's trust in him. But he was here anyway.

However, that did not free him from the doom that lingered in his heart and _soul._

 **Yeah, I must confess, Clive Barker who is one of my favorite authors of all time, inspired me for the raw, grisly content present. He is known for pushing the boundaries on a LOT of levels, and it's really great. Yono himself is just as bad as you all saw. He has the gall to torment Monty on what he had with Kim one time in one of my fics part of this saga.**

 **The cover image was really powerful, when I happened across it on deviantart, though at first I was also wary to have it up - yet it signified everything that will happen in this story. It's "midnight to 4AM" by pixellabor, and the imagery was remarkable.**

 **Now in Monty's point of view, he's been rescued like at the end of the prologue of "The Monkey King Takes His Queen". :D Reviews appreciated, but no flames please.**


	2. Extra Hands

**So now, at this point in the story, we cover how Lord Fiske AKA Monkey Fist handles being back in the world following Bates and his loyal monkey ninjas freeing him from Yono's realm, and he struggles big time. Absolutely no cake walk on the way.**

Chapter Two

Extra Hands

"Milord!" Bates jumped to his feet and rushed to kneel before his master's side, the monkey ninjas screeching and joining him in a circle. Fiske lay on his stomach like a newborn struggling to move on its own, his naked body quivering uncontrollably, his hyperventilation audible and erratic. Bates was worried how the man would react if he tried to touch him in any way. He repeated softly, "Milord?"

Monty's shaking ceased only to restart again but in gentler motions, to let him know he'd heard. "B-Bates," he responded, recognizing his former valet's voice. He lifted his head in the other's direction, unable to raise his head entirely to look at him in the eyes. "Bates, where am I?"

"You're home," Bates answered, finally laying a hand on the man's naked shoulder, helping him to a kneeling position. "What happened to you?"

Fiske finally looked up at him. His eyes, once vivid with knowledge and pride, were watery with fragility. Whatever happened to him, it had affected him very much that Bates had the distinct feeling he might end his obsessive pursuit of the Mystical Monkey Power - unless he was wrong as he'd been proven before.

"Bates," Fiske said softly, bringing a hand - still covered with hair and mutated like a monkey - to grasp Bates' arm covered by his coat, "it was terrible..." His eyes lowered then, his head bowing as if ashamed of himself. "Terrible," he repeated, followed by a wracking of his form. "I'm so cold."

Bates shrugged off his coat and draped it over Monty's shoulders, looking up at the clearly worried monkey ninjas who did not know what to do at the present. They had to get him inside now where he was safe - but this was only just the beginning. Lord Fiske dealt with dark forces beyond comprehension, and now Bates knew he could not leave him alone this time.

"Help me get him inside," he said to the monkeys as he helped his master stand, who wobbled on his legs and held onto him. "Oh, steady, milord."

The trek through the gardens and back into the castle was an adventure of its own. Bates hadn't helped Fiske through like this since he was first learning to walk, but he supposed being in stone and in another world could do this to a man or woman - and he dreaded even asking Lord Fiske about it as he saw what it had done to him.

There was so much to catch up on, and so many distressing matters to work out. How was he going to tell the man his castle had been abandoned but its contents left to him, his loyal valet who returned to him from a peaceful life because his faithful monkey minions had dragged him back to retrieve him? And once word got out that he was alive and well, he had to appear before court to answer to his crimes as Monkey Fist - and he would have to answer the important question as to WHERE he had been for the last seven years.

Those questions would have to wait until morning, Bates reasoned. As he said before, he would not leave Monty alone to deal with all of this.

"I can walk now," Fiske said suddenly, and for a moment, Bates was torn between believing him and letting him go, or continue to support him just to be on the safe side. At the man's icy gaze, he backed away at arm's length but kept his hand on Fiske's just to hold him while he stood on both feet, his free hand keeping the coat around him clasped. Bates couldn't believe it; he could walk, so no use in being the caregiver.

Bates saw how he was still shivering, and there was only one thing to come to mind that he turned to two of the monkey ninjas beside him while a handful of the others remained beside their master. "Get a bath ready," he said in a low voice, but he didn't speak their language. The duo nodded and hurried ahead of them for the stairs, making Lord Fiske frown.

"Where are they going?"

"Is a bath too much of a trouble, to warm you up?"

"Hmm...I suppose it's not a bad idea."

He was getting some of his old self back, but the dullness in his eyes showed that the road was much longer to take. "I'm afraid so much has changed while you were gone, milord," the former valet said, though he felt embarrassed. Just how do you begin conversation with a man who dabbled in powers beyond himself and paid the price for it?

They were halfway through the journey up the grand staircase when Monty turned his face halfway and regarded him stoically. "I gathered," he snapped, suddenly changing in an instant. Yes, the man he remembered indeed. "But I have endured enough to last a lifetime that tonight I don't want to talk of such matters."

"As you wish, milord. I did not mean to push too hard."

Fiske said nothing else, and his footsteps increased so he was almost ahead of the man who used to serve him and his family for so long - whose family had served before him. Years of loyalty down the drain after what he tried to do to Dr. James Possible's space station in Middleton, and the decision was solidified in that Bates didn't want to be involved in Monkey Fist's brutal ways. Who could ever forget how their parting had turned out?

 _"Well, I don't suppose I can rely on you any longer. And all these years, you choose to leave."_

 _"Because, milord, it's evident you no longer need me. Your monkey companions were more than helpful in that regard."_

 _"But now I come back only for them to abandon me!"_

 _"It was no surprise to me that they come back and see that the Ultimate Monkey Master would be Ronald Stoppable. I was there when I witnessed it, from the mistake made mentioned in the text as well as the fact they left you to be captured. Something told me that they had more common sense than you."_

 _"How DARE you speak to me like this!"_

 _"Because all these years I watched over you, cared for you as if you were my own, and look how far you have fallen, milord! I swore from my youngest age that I would never abandon the Fiske family, even when it was your turn to inherit...but I don't know you anymore. I tried my best to be there for you, to support you in every way I could. It seems this is how it ends."_

 _"So it does seem. Very well. Good-bye, Bates, and who knows if we shall ever cross paths again."_

 _"Would it be too much to at least keep in touch, given there is still a part of me that still genuinely cares about you, whether you realize it or not?"_

 _"I don't suppose so, but it changes nothing."_

Fiske did not say much, after so many years, and to say it hurt was an understatement. The man whom he'd delivered from his dying mother as a baby disregarded him because he let his depraved desires get the best of him. Sometimes Bates blamed his father, the late Edward Fiske, but it was Monty himself who wanted to be better than the man who created him, the one who avoided the one thing left of his beloved wife. Monty never knew his mother, but carried the knowledge she would have become an archaeologist herself had her own father not taken that from her and forced her into a marriage she didn't want - but she did fall in love with her husband. Five years of trying to have a child and finally got the wish - but complications in the pregnancy caused the belief that another child would not be borne, and the birth itself was beyond difficult, resulting in one loss and the other living. The mother gave up her life for the sake of her infant son's.

Bates had been the father young Monty never had, yet when he became a man and became engrossed in his research, inherited everything his father left him, he changed altogether that the valet did not see it entirely until it was too late.

He heard the sound of water running by the time they reached the master bedroom, particularly its adjoined bathroom. The monkey ninjas ooked and remained behind, watching as Bates took his former master in, in time to meet the two monkeys who had prepared it.

"Lili, Gia," Fiske acknowledged dully, inclining his head forward once. They bowed their heads in return before turning off the faucet and adding some lavender bubbles to soothe the senses. Sighing and not caring that Bates was still there, he slid off the coat from his body. The other man had to advert his eyes to the side but still keep his attention at the same time. Fiske was looking down at himself as if trying to see if anything that shouldn't be there was present, running his hands over himself and keeping his back to Bates.

"Milord?"

"What is it?" the man asked irritably, turning his face halfway to regard him that it made Bates flinch. The old days had rolled back into place. He took a step back even though he wasn't afraid.

"Is there anything I can do before I...leave you alone?"

Monty's voice made him do just what he said. "Look at me, Bates," he snapped. When the former valet looked at his face, doing his best to not look at any part of his body, he did cringe when the man turned all the way around. Blue eyes burned through him like fire. "You leave me for three years until I take the greatest risk of my life and cost my own soul, for seven years to come in spending with a demon in his realm - and you come back with my loyal monkey minions and think you can make up for it all?"

~o~

The man who left him following his return from Middleton and his second arrest had the nerve to appear back in his life, thought that by saving him from the Yono, things would get better for him from now on. Here he was, in his own castle which he had left to Bates in his will, after almost a decade. An eternity in hell with that monster, and now he was here as if nothing had changed.

But he would not be a fool and think nothing was different. He had a lot of questions to ask Bates, but tonight he felt...

Monty Fiske halted his thoughts there and looked over the man who had served him all his life and his family before him. The betrayal at leaving him when he needed him the most was inexcusable, but it was understandable why Bates had to go his own way. It still had not made him trusting of the man he once thought he could count on, who had to leave him alone out of cowardice, but he'd made do without Bates and relied on his loyal monkeys. They had stuck around and searched long and hard to bring him back...and they had found Bates, used him as the key. He supposed he owed them his debt of gratitude.

That did not mean he and Bates had to deal with each other before any hope of reconciliation - if any - could come to. "No," his former valet stated, locking him in the eyes. "I thought you were indeed dead as I heard no word for seven years, and it was days ago that the final word was drawn up. The lawyers and I are still drawing up the final papers. I truly had no idea about the...incident in Japan, until your monkeys filled me in."

He raised an eyebrow, his modest state forgotten. "I see...so you came back because of them," he stated. It _was_ all coming together: Bates did not completely come back of his own free will; the monkey ninjas found him when he came to the castle, perhaps with the intent of attempting to reconnect with the past, unaware they were still remaining. Why hadn't no one encountered them before when they touched his ancestral home?

"I really did try to find you, Lord Fiske, but you vanished, and seven years went by. We all believed you were dead."

"Well, you couldn't have known," was all he could say. "I suppose I can explain everything to you tomorrow. But tonight -" He exhaled and felt the steam reach his back and moisten his skin. "- I ought to be alone."

At least Bates still respected him in this sense. "Of course, milord. Call me or the monkeys if you need any of us."

Monty frowned at him. Bates was...staying here? Now that he, the lord of this estate even though everything had been left to this man before him, was back into being? He wanted to say that he could take care of himself, that his monkey ninjas would be able to handle him - but on second thought, let's just see how tonight and tomorrow would play out before he made the decision. After Bates saved him, he shouldn't toss him away like that.

When did he start to actually care about others besides himself?! It horrified him to no end, because no one ever understood what he strived to become.

He cringed when his hands both burned, and he looked down to see _them_ glow brightly on the backs of his fur-covered appendages, biting back a cry of fear before he closed his eyes and dropped his hands to his sides, clenching them into fists.

Yono had followed him here.

Oh, God, not this: his groin tightened and ached, the last thing he expected besides the Destroyer's emblem in his flesh. He didn't...want to think...about...

There was a knock on the door, snapping him to life and growling through his teeth. "WHAT?!"

Bates answered timidly from the other side. "I'm sorry, but can I bring you your favorite tea?" It had been a long time since he'd done that for Lord Fiske, who blinked in surprise.

"Oh...yes, thank you." He turned from the door and made his way to the bath Gia and Lili, two of the few females in the pack, made for him. He hissed in delight at the feel of the hot water - the first replenishment he had in an eternity, ravishing his senses in and out - around his feet before he lowered himself in and let himself be covered up to the chest. Lavender calmed him down as it was also used to heal any injuries...

...but the same could not be said for internal wounds.

He wanted to just sleep it off, forget the tea, forget tomorrow's troubles - forget just everything. But he feared if he fell asleep -

Monty yelped when he found himself sliding under the water, the substance filling his nose and mouth - his lungs were on fire right away - and darkness clouded his senses...as well as THAT voice...

 _You can't escape me, Monty._

 **Lord Fiske's mental recovery depicted in here as well as in "The Monkey King Takes His Queen" is certainly beyond walking on hot coals; he's got a load of trouble to face, such as legal and social - that includes avoiding prison time and maybe getting back to work at the museum, but the Yono is the greatest challenge for him to face.**

 **Special thanks also goes to VampireNaomi for the portrayal of Bates and Fiske's relationship in here and the majority of the saga.**

 **Him sliding under the tub water was inspired by one of the best scenes in the original "Nightmare on Elm Street", in which leading girl Nancy falls asleep and is pulled under by Freddy Krueger, but she pulls out of it.**


	3. Slipping and Sliding

Chapter Three

Slipping and Sliding

He was just coming back with the tea made, accompanied by Chippy who happened to be one of the boldest - and that was when they both heard it from the other side of the door: choking gasps and cries as well as splashing water, and a mild thud which could only mean a crash of some sorts.

Quickly, Bates put down the tea service and hurried to open the door, the monkey screeching and leaping after him, in time for them both to see Lord Fiske's nude, wet body sprawled on the tiled bathroom floor, with his legs in the air, gasping for air and shaking worse than he had in the gardens. "Milord!" Bates yelled, diving to his side, grabbing a towel from the rack and throwing it over Monty. "Come on, milord, don't do this to me! What happened?!"

"Stop yelling," the man rasped once he was in control of himself, looking up at him as he rolled onto his back and stared up. "I just...slipped."

"Just slipped!" Bates exclaimed, shaking his head. "I thought you could have killed yourself!" In his mind, he believed that Fiske was still weak in that he couldn't be active for some time tonight or even tomorrow, just to be safe. But at the same time, this was a grown man he was in the presence of - a man who wasn't the boy he raised anymore and got himself in deep with magic and mysterious powers that his father had disregarded for the sake of rationale, that the younger Fiske should have done. And look what happened.

Monty Fiske was still staring at the ceiling and breathing harshly, his chest heaving up and down. He heard Bates, alright, but did not respond. Nor did he acknowledge the worried Chippy who continued to ook in paranoia that his master was on the verge of getting himself killed. Apparently he was also the more independent of the pack that Bates liked him along with Lili.

Now he glared up at Bates, lip curling. "I wasn't doing it purposefully." Grimacing, he gingerly sat up and clutched the towel close to himself, eventually succeeding in sitting upwards, on his knees, drying himself off. If he was still sore in places, he held onto his pride and did not say so to Bates. "You two can leave me be now," he told him and Chippy. "I'll heal eventually."

Physically, yes, Bates thought with a shake of his head. Mentally? They had to see how this turned out. He left the bathroom with the monkey just to pick up the tea service again, still hot. He decided it was best to set it on the bedside table. Fiske had survived without him after his departure, not to be cruel. "I bid you good night, milord," he called, not bothering to turn and look back to see the man come out, dried completely but obviously still unclothed. It made the former valet uncomfortable even though he'd seen young Monty that way before, once as a young boy and another time as a teenager when he was developing physical aspects of manhood. But this was as he said before, a grown man - and one who allowed himself to be warped and become dangerous, nothing like the Lord Monty Fiske he knew.

But he still answered, and with a slight trace of...gratitude? "Good night, Bates."

~o~

That was it: he was NEVER taking a bath ever again, just to be on the safe side. After the episode and resulting in Bates and Chippy coming in, he didn't want to risk any more humiliation. He'd had enough to last a lifetime.

His body erupted with pain in every part when he managed to pull himself free from his watery tomb - he was not sure if it was worse than being in stone or just as, but it was certainly no less - and the unseen demon in time to breathe precious air and yell in spite of himself, then pull himself from the entrapment and hit his body against the harsh tiled floor just as his "heroes" came to his aid.

He didn't even need or want the help; he'd managed on his own, but frankly he didn't have a choice in the matter, did he? He was in immense pain both in body and mind enough as it was, but at least Bates respected his space and left his favorite tea beside the bed. Think of it as a small way of "the good old days". When did Monty start reminiscing those days long past?

Maybe this could be means to distract him from his troubles. He thought this as he finished drying before sliding into bed without putting nightclothes on. It was purely because he didn't feel like getting dressed. Waking up like this in the garden proved to be an embarrassment enough, but it wasn't anything that his minions hadn't seen before, on rare occasions. Bates had raised him, after all, but it was so long ago.

Monty sighed after leaning back in the safe wrappings of his sheets and blankets, in his own bed, after taking a sip of his tea. Ah, to let the good tranquility wash over him, and it wasn't long before sleep began to overcome him by the time he settled down and turned the lights off...

You are enjoying this.

No. _He had the strength to speak back, clench his jaw the best he could, retain as much of his pride as he could. That monstrous tail insulted him but reminded him this was what he had no choice but to oblige to. Touching him there, sensationalizing him...degrading him. That was what it was, and no one would change that._ Stop this.

I'm afraid not. _The tip wrapped around his length and squeezed the sensitive flesh, drawing a gasp he could not help. He wasn't supposed to...!_ If you would only stop fighting, this would be pleasant for us both. And if you are awakened by another insignificant mortal, then you won't have to worry about this until next time...

 _He whimpered in response, when the tail abandoned the apex of his legs and went behind, ghosting over the valley of his rear, the muscles contracting uncontrollably as the monkey deity enjoyed this uncharted territory very much and pulled the trigger in his plaything's sanity - what was left of it, to be precise._

So tight, so constricting - but I am thinking of something else other than your fate with me.

No, please...let me go...

Haven't I already made that real clear? You're doomed to serve me. There are many ways that can be interpreted, Monty.

 _He was barely able to stifle a gasp when the tail pushed into his inner ring and stretched him, causing his heart to burst in a figurative sense. This pushed the boundaries of being touched behind; the feeling was oddly intimate, however. Who was there to judge him in this personal hell he was forever encased in? Shame was his fate, and perhaps the only thing he would ever feel...but Yono apparently was trying to make him feel something other than that just for the sake of them both. He had other plans than just misery._

 _The tail pulled out of him, leaving him alone and wondering where it was now - and then something else, something more blunt, returned, and it was without warning or even preparation. If there was blood, then such things as bodily fluids would not exist in this timeless place. Now he did scream, echoing throughout the darkness and bringing forth a laugh from the deity._

The agony won't last. Oh, you are so...divine.

 _His cheeks scalded, but no tears seemed to fall. The other pulled in and out of his body, wracking him and holding him in place at the same time. The tail did not come back, but the dark accent reached his ears again._ While I obtain this for myself, there is one thing you can do for yourself while I watch. _He chuckled in utter amusement._

Damn you! I won't do anything for your perverted pleasure!

Now, such language will not get you the freedom you will never have again. _The tip of the tail smacked him in the face._ Touch yourself now.

 _Oh, God, his hands were moving, and not on his own, to the very place where he had been violated only moments ago..._

Monty woke up screaming and daylight in his face, falling out of his own bed and would have slammed his face on the corner of the table had he not noticed fast. Grunting, he pulled himself to his knees. He looked around and saw dawn pouring in, seldom sunlight and expecting rain. He sighed and leaned back against the bed briefly before crawling back in it because he felt a tad safer than on the floor in his birthday suit.

He expected his hands to burn again, but strangely, they didn't. He tried to tell himself it was only a dream - except it wasn't. The memories were there and would remain with him for as long as they would unless he found himself on his feet again, in his old study and looking for a way to overcome the Yono's spell over him. But he had only just gotten back into the world; adjustments had to be made, as much as he despised waiting and delaying.

 _Touch yourself now..._

"Leave me alone," he growled to no one in particular. If Yono really spoke to him, then he would have made his presence known - but he could only be summoned, the grave error Monkey Fist made and wished he could very much rectify it, but he was not going back to Japan. Not for a long time. He wanted peace, but it would not be easy to get. "I won't..."

But the ache in his groin continued to grow, and he hissed to himself as he squeezed his eyes tightly shut. Well, it wasn't going to take care of itself, was it? He knew this wasn't good for his body, especially solo, but there was no way of getting anyone in bed with him, now was there? Sarcastically laughing in his mind, he adjusted himself so he was comfortable, laying on his stomach so he didn't ruin the sheets covering him, he reached between his body and the bed, going straight to where he hurt most.

~o~

The walls of Fiske Castle were soundproof - much of them anyway - but when he arrived at the master bedroom, he heard the thud and scream yet again, but he'd paused when he remembered last night and Fiske stating he could take care of himself. He must have had a nightmare this time, for as he listened outside, he heard the familiar sounds of picking up and returning to bed.

Lord Fiske never stayed in bed so late, but if this was what he wanted to do, and recover his strength, then so be it. Bates remained outside for a little longer just for curiosity's sake, even though it could be classified as a form of invasion of privacy.

 _"Leave me alone...I won't..."_

Who was he talking to - or about? Could it be he was hearing the voice of this...Yono character? Bates had spent some time reading about this dark simian god and his "other half" - the Han - and had so much to ask Fiske, but with his current state, it seemed the questions had to wait a little longer. Knowing him, Monty would snap at him and remind him that they were not master and servant any longer. Or worse: he meant nothing to the monkey man like he used to, and that cut his heart indefinitely. They'd parted on those terms despite Monty agreeing to stay in touch on a regular occasion - when he was not in prison, of course.

There was a long table against the wall outside the master bedroom that Bates set the morning tea and breakfast service on top. He had to do this because it was the least he could do. Hesitantly, however, he reached over and gently as well as quietly opened the door and peeked inside...and wished he hadn't at what he saw.

Perhaps he shouldn't even _mention_ it to anyone, much less himself because it was Lord Fiske - the way he lay facedown, the movements beneath the sheets, the noises he made...

Monty hadn't done this since he was a much younger man, and it couldn't be a woman involved or any lewd fantasy - unless it was a way of distracting himself from whatever happened to him. He needed mental help more than prison; that much was obvious. He should speak to the man about this and take the matters into his own hands whether Fiske would ask for it or not, and the monkey ninjas were in agreement with him. The majority always ruled. Fiske would be angered that his own minions and a former servant had turned against him like this, but no one cared other than for his broken sanity.

The family lawyer would do this, but that meant an explanation for him, too. However told, it would be warped to give Lord Fiske the psychological sentence rather than life imprisonment. And since his estate was essentially Bates' now - but he could always return any portions back to its rightful owner, have the old days come back in a small sense - he would have to live in it once more instead of on the streets.

There was a moan on the other side of the door, telling him Monty was finished with his...situation. His cheeks flushed that he knew he had to keep it under control to prevent the man from knowing he'd stood out and listened. Several long moments felt like an eternity before he decided to knock. Fiske called from the other side. His eyebrows shot to his forehead; he was still in bed but with the sheets covering the lower half of his body. "I still don't understand why you choose to stay," he stated blandly.

"I think you DO know why, milord," Bates answered calmly. "I don't know the entire story, nor will I pry when you don't wish to -" He was cut off sharply.

"Get to the point, if you must."

Oh, he remembered that attitude, indeed. "I'm staying to help you whether you ask for it or not, and the monkeys are with me on this. As a start, you've been presumed dead for seven years, but now that you are alive and well, we owe the world an explanation - or, at least, a form of it, so we can focus on banishing the Yono from our lives once and for all."

The moment he spoke those words, he realized truly how deeply he had gotten himself back into this mess involving mystical magic and gods - and Lord Fiske's insane quest which he knew was still far from over. A harsh sigh from the man escaped his lips.

"Yes, I need to rid myself of him...only I doubt I can truly find the answer with the state I am in at the present time." A small smile tugged one corner of his mouth before it faded. "What must we do as a start?"

 **Fiske and Bates' relationship is a somewhat father-son bond even if it was strained and broken later on when Monty became obsessed with the jade monkey idols and the legends of Tai Shing Pek Kwar. I mentioned this in "The Monkey King Takes His Queen", but I was inspired by "The Monkey's Valet" which explores and expands that relationship and how Bates was affected when the great man he once knew descended into a monster. Despite it all, he stayed beside Lord Fiske - until before the events of "Monkey Ninjas in Space" came along, as well as the monkey ninjas - and he decided to part ways as it was pointless to help his master. But this time, he came back with the help of the ninja monkeys. Let's see how things turn out now; Monty has six months of therapy to cover...as well as darkly erotic, shameful dreams to deal with, and his own soul in turmoil.**


	4. Dishonored

**In "The Monkey's Valet", the family lawyer got Lord Fiske off with a light insanity sentence and with a similar manner of "twisting some facts without completely lying", but eventually Monkey Fist ended up getting himself back on track (after a temporary withdrawal into himself and lashing physically out at Bates, the man who faithfully served him and his family all these years) when the altar of the Mystical Monkey Monk and acquiring the monkey ninjas to train, resulting in Bates leaving him at last because it was clear he was no longer vital. This time around (and in TMKTHQ), I took it that he left AFTER the events of "Monkey Ninjas in Space" - but now that he was found by the monkey ninjas after "Oh, No! Yono!", he decides to stay and help once more, even if the road is more trickier than before.**

 **It was also mentioned in VampireNaomi's story that Bates' wife died after several years of being ill, but they had no children. This time around her actual sickness is mentioned by name, but they do have an only living son.**

 **Oh, and a word of warning: an attempt at suicide, if only mentioned mentally.**

Chapter Four

Dishonored

 _"Why, I must say, this is a shocking surprise! And we all believed he was dead all these years, my friend!"_ Robert Hartford exclaimed over the phone which Bates found himself over after leaving the master bedroom. The monkey ninjas were currently downstairs in the dojo, their master having joined them.

"For distraction," was all Fiske would say, while he let his former valet take matters into his own hands. "I will not allow my body to become weak from lack of activity."

He had spent the majority of the hour discussing an excuse to give the world, particularly the Fiske lawyer he was currently in conversation with. Bates swallowed. "Yes, imagine my shock, too," he agreed. "I don't know how to tell you this, but he was lost in the Japanese mountains and had managed to find his way to contact me." It was lame, feeble, but it had to do. If they were going to get Fiske off, then it meant to twist some parts without completely lying.

The man's reaction was as expected. _"Lost in Japan, eh? Well, so many will find that hard to believe as it is, John, my friend. After all, Japan's population and such appears to rank higher than the United States, even, so someone would have noticed ol' Monty sooner than now."_

"Precisely what I mean," Bates answered. "But it's what happened. Apparently after one of his...misdeeds, he suffered amnesia that he was taken in by a local tribe until he regained his memory and found me."

 _"Well, we must do what we can now. I haven't been keeping in touch with his activities before the several years past, but I won't be surprised if he hasn't been able to keep it under control before his 'amnesia'. I'd love to hear his side of the story, in addition. I can cancel my appointments and come by tomorrow afternoon. For now, why don't you do your best to make sure he continues to stay out of trouble?"_

"I will do my best, sir." Even though he made the promise, he sighed. He already knew how that was going to turn out, but Fiske would not disagree with him for the sake of putting himself back into the world for the sake of his own soul. If they got him the rehabilitation - for appearances' sake, he knew it from the past - then they would get to work on finding a way to get around the Yono.

But that also meant attracting the attention of none other than Kim Possible, as well as her husband Ron Stoppable.

Bates saw the fireplace down and revealing the door to the dojo, where the screeching of monkeys reached his ears. There was also the command of their master.

"You have all not let me down thus far. It seems that my faith in you has not been misplaced, my monkey minions."

He wondered if he should go ahead and inform the man that Hartford would be here tomorrow, but Fiske would no doubt get angry at the interruption. He decided to wait out, even if it meant that it would take more hours. Which gave him plenty of time for himself - and it made him remember his family in London.

 _"Oh, Dad, I was wondering what happened to you last night."_

Charles was his only son with Honor, who died when he was fifteen years old from ovarian cancer. Just as he turned eighteen, his son had decided to go to university for a degree in literature and history rather than sticking around to serve the Fiske family. Bates had been sorely disappointed in his own son for this, but he was far more independent than his father had ever been - a minor regret which found its way inkling to actual doubt about his position as Lord Fiske disintegrated.

"Yes, I apologize, my boy," Bates said. "Lord Fiske -"

 _"Oh, I knew it! I was wondering when he would resurface again. Mary always knew he wasn't dead."_ Mary was his daughter-in-law and the mother of Charles' three young children - the third actually on the way in three more months. _"How is he?"_

"Physically well, but mentally...not so."

Charles exhaled. He had not once set foot in the castle once he got accepted into university, except visited during Christmas or even invited his father to leave the castle to be with him and Mary, whom he met in school. Yet it was never easy to just pull the isolated Lord Fiske away from his castle because the man never enjoyed events, not even when he was a boy. No birthdays, no Christmas, nothing upon reaching adulthood and his father dying. Monty was a complete loner - with Bates being the exception, of course.

 _"Does this mean you're back to serving him, IF he gets off easy?"_ Charles had to ask, trying his best not to sound conceited.

"Chances are he might - but I'm afraid things are more complicated than that," his father had to say, loathing lying to his own son but had to. "Lord Fiske lost his memory across the globe and was missing up until late last night when he found me, after recovering sometime before."

 _"And he couldn't just write you a letter or even reach a telephone, Dad?"_

He shrugged even though his son couldn't see him. "I doubt it. He really was desperate." A part of him wanted to laugh. Desperate was definitely the word he would use to describe Monty in every aspect as of late. But laughing was not tolerated at this time. "He really wanted to come back home..."

Charles finished the sentence for him. _"...even if it meant facing the world for his crimes. You really think he might have changed or could be fooling the courts like he did the first time?"_ Bates sighed again, which gave him the answer. _"So, this answers my question: you're thinking of going back to him after everything that's happened?"_

"I don't like this, son, but I must help him. He's endured so much in seven years, and I'll make damned sure he doesn't get out of line again. He really has...come to terms with his grievous errors. He seeks absolution."

There was a deep chuckle in the doorway that he whirled around in horror to see Fiske himself leaning casually against the doorway with a one-sided smirk as he heard EVERY word spoken!

 _"Dad?"_

He hadn't realized that Charles had spoken and let loose a shaky breath, doing his best to keep himself together. "I - I'm sorry, Charles. I was deep in thought," he stammered, and if his son noticed, then he said nothing.

 _"Well, I have to get back to the shop. Just call us whenever the matters are resolved?"_

"Send my love to Mary and the children," he answered, putting the phone back to its receiver. Fiske's smile - sinister and dark - had not faltered that it made the sweat break out in his forehead.

"Bates, you really have proven to be more devious than I always thought you were."

He lowered his eyes to the ground. "Milord, please forgive me, but I couldn't let my son ask too many questions..." It was futile, and he knew it. Maybe it had been a mistake after all...

If Monty was hiding his inner turmoils with the appearance and behavior of his former self, he was doing a damned fine job of it. "Of course, we can't have that." They were both in the sitting room, away from the fireplace, so the lord walked away from his former valet and reached the table where the cut-crystal brandy decanters were, having chosen something strong instead of his favorite tea somehow that it made Bates frown. "Just how is your family?" Fiske asked casually, looking at him intently over the rim, his throat bobbing with each swallow which made Bates do the same.

"They're faring well. The book shop has managed to stay in business - if you remember it at all, milord."

Blue eyes flashed before darkening. "Of course, how could I forget it?" he snapped, downing down the last of the brandy before slamming it down. "One of the greatest sources that aided me when I didn't acquire what I needed at the museum or even the blasted Internet."

Time for a change of subject. "I spoke to Mr. Hartford -"

"Good. The sooner I am cleared, the better."

Indeed, and if it happened, it begged the important questions. "And once your slate is cleared and you are given the rehabilitation sentence, what about your life to follow? What must we do with you then?" He had to push harder because he didn't want things to fall apart again, but if another failure came, then he might as well go down with Fiske this time because he risked so much to travel all the way to Japan to bring him home.

"What must I DO?" Monty repeated, breaking out into barking laughter. "Well, that's very half-witted of you to ask. I intend to break free from the Yono once and for all, but to do so overnight meant rushing to another doom - or maybe bring me back to him if I am not careful. My sources are apparently limited now as I can't risk attracting the attention of Team Possible again, can I?" he sneered. "I won't go back to jail again, so it seems I must do all I can to convince the museum to take me back and 'atone'." His eyes glinted now, much like they used to when his descent into madness first began to spiral very slowly that Bates worked hard to not tremble than he already was in his stomach.

"Are you sure you still want to do this, then?" he queried anxiously. "Fight to become the...Ultimate Monkey Master?" His questions were making the man angrier, but the lines in his face soon softened as he laughed again, albeit briefly and amused.

"Why would I not?"

"Because of what transpired. I'd have assumed that seven years of...hell would make you realize that perhaps power is your downfall after all."

Oh, wrong words of choice. The walls shook as Monkey Fist overtook Lord Monty Fiske, his voice roaring thunderously as he was now towering over the shorter, older man.

"YOU DARE TO SPEAK OF MY PASSION IN THAT MANNER! YOU TRULY HAVE NOT CHANGED IN THE SLIGHTEST! YES, SEVEN YEARS OF HELL AND EVERYTHING TAKEN FROM ME! MY PRIDE AND MY STRENGTH DIMINISHED AT HIS HANDS, ONLY TO FIND MYSELF SAVED FROM HIM ONLY TO HEAR YOU TELL ME WORDS NO DIFFERENT THAN HE!"

Bates' fierce determination increased at the harsh, explosive choice of words. If the Yono had said that Monty Fiske let his lust for greater power get the best of him, then perhaps he and the black simian god had one common agreement, and that was as far as he was willing to go. It made him explode right back. "You are bloody right that I'll speak to you in any manner I choose!" he fired back.

Fiske growled and bared his teeth, lips pulling back. "I should fire you right here and right now for this," he threatened, voice lowered but hissing like a deadly serpent, specifically the Egyptian asp.

"I'm not your valet anymore, so I highly doubt you can, but _I_ can speak the truth as I see it. You can strike me down, but I remind you, milord, that it wasn't just your loyal little simians who pulled you from the ground and returned you to the flesh - it was also ME. It was something well beyond what any manservant would do for his master, or should I say _former_ manservant in this case? Feel free to question my loyalty like you did before, but I have proven it now."

The taller man's eyes flashed like fire again, and the raging growl escaped his throat, but he said nothing for a long moment because he assumed the man he once relied on thought he would say more, and how right he was, but he was pausing for now to hear the lord say his part. "You fool," he snarled, "you proved yourself, yes, but where were you when I began my journey for the four jade statues? You didn't understand, you questioned my every decision, and I wondered if I could even count on you. I was right, yet you came back last night and now we are back to the way we started." He stated it bluntly and eased his expression if remaining stoned with hate.

Bates folded his arms across his chest and turned his nose up at him. "My motives were thus far more nobler than yours ever were. I did not question you all those years because I was your servant and nothing more, as you loved to point out in the years to follow since your father's death. You truly became more colder than he was to you. You wanted to be better, to be more powerful and superior because he belittled you. So, my lord, before you go off seeking more power after your dire episode with the Dark Destroyer, perhaps you should ask yourself what your quest has ever gotten you," he pointed out, causing the man to stiffen in his place.

"What, pray tell, should I think about while I am locked up after the trial?" he sneered.

"You gained the four statues, but did this Mystical Monkey Power ever give you anything that made you happy? NO!" Bates roared with anger beyond his control that he didn't feel or seem like himself now. Everything that the monkey ninjas filled him in on besides the Yono slipped through his lips without error. "You searched for that blasted sword, the Lotus Blade, and what happened? The Yamanouchi sent you and your monkey ninjas running off the mountain with your tails between your legs. You quested for the Han and wound up under a pile of rubble. Then the Yono - and it sent you to hell."

By the time he was done speaking, he felt so out of breath and his heart was pounding with more frenzy that it matched Lord Fiske's thunderous wrath.

"Bates, if you know what is good for you -!"

Before either of them knew it, there was a heinous crack like a whip echoing throughout the room and in their eardrums. He didn't even notice until after the deed was done, but Fiske was covering the left side of his face while Bates' hand was stinging beyond anything he ever touched. He gasped sharply when his eyes met Fiske's, seeing the rage replaced with mortification matching his own inner horror.

He had _struck_ Lord Monty Fiske in the face!

~o~

His cheek stung worse than he remembered. The only people in his lifetime to ever hit him were either Possible and Stoppable - or his father, when the old fool was still alive, of course. He kept his eyes lowered to the ground as his temper boiled along with his dismay that _Bates_ had to lay his hand on him - how DARE he?!

He had been telling him everything that was no different than Yono degrading him in mind, body and soul all in one. He had been telling Monty that he had sunken so low that he lost so much faith in him - and yet here he was, in front of him and also telling him that he was still the man he raised as a boy and loyally served as a man but chose to leave him alone when he "went mad". He pointed out everything Monkey Fist did in Japan from the Lotus Blade to searching for the Han, and eventually the Yono himself...

...and ultimately striking him to the face, stunning him and taking them both off altogether.

A long silence passed between them, and he was still rubbing his face when he finally looked to see the older man's mortified gaze. "I...I am so sorry," he uttered, backing away by a step. "I did not know what -"

"Save your breath," Monty snarled. "You've said _and_ done enough already. Get out of my sight!"

To his great relief, Bates whirled around and did not look back at him. Only barely a night and day, and they were already on the worst of terms, it seemed, but he scarcely cared as his dignity had been dented if not completely crushed. However, his former valet's voice had the nerve to add one last jab, calm and collected as it was.

"We are still not finished here. You're still wealthy and respected - even if your reputation is down the drain - so why not turn away from what has never given you anything but grief, and take up the life that used to at least keep you content? That way you can find your time to...find a weapon against Yono and save yourself."

Had he been in his right state of sending another clever comeback, Monty would have "suggested" that he return to his little family and bookstore in London if he wanted to save himself like before...but he did not. It was as if he had no voice, like he was in a living nightmare that he had no control over himself. The best he could do was sigh sharply and turn his back to the entrance of the sitting room. He wasn't a heavy drinker because he was still a ninja, but he really needed another glass of brandy.

Should he say that he had two more glasses and felt lightheaded afterwards that he had to lie down on the lounge afterwards? If Bates or the monkeys approached him like this - no, wait, they would not be wise to disturb him. He didn't care if he wasted the whole day just this once. He wanted to just sleep it off and forget about today, tomorrow even and after that...

When he did drift away, he opened his eyes to clear surroundings and awaited a pounding migraine, but no such luck. Instead, his body had returned to being its original energized state - but then the memory of his argument with Bates as well as the haunting of his sanity returned with full-force...and the most unexpected thought unimaginable came to light in his alcohol-lingered brain.

"I've brought this upon myself," he said aloud mostly to himself. "If I am to spend the rest of my life rotting away inside, perhaps spending the rest of my life and losing everything I have, so be it." He grunted and stood up, stretching himself and marching through the doorway out of the lounge itself. "But I won't live with this pain if it can't be banished."

Which left one option left, vile and selfish as it was, but he did not care.

He found himself in the kitchen. He never used to be in here often, given it was Bates' sanctuary - and the fool wasn't here at the present. Neither were any of the monkey ninjas. They must be elsewhere comforting him, and it made Monty sneer. Ignoring the thought, however, he made way for one of the drawers where all the silverware were stowed...

...and found an array of the deadliest kitchen knives in existence.

Only one of these would befit what he intended to do, given he brought so much shame upon himself. He traded his soul and sanity to the devil called the Yono, sacrificed his entire life and reputation for his quest to become the Ultimate Monkey Master. The chances now of continuing that quest if the courts won and Hartford failed him, he would spend his life in prison, starving himself and then getting violated physically as he had been in the spiritual realm. He didn't want to be condemned to a similar existence in this world, so there was only one choice to make.

Slicing his own wrists was too common and therefore out of the question. Which left the _seppuku_ ritual reserved for dishonored Japanese warriors. Slow, painful and elaborate. Perhaps more than a few moments of pain before his last moments would suffice for him.

The one that stood out most of all from the rest was an eleven-inch, gleaming silver blade in a handle of honey-toned oak, fitting in his hands perfect and shining bright in the sunlight streaming in through the window. He turned his whole body to the window and knelt before it, not bothering to get into the lotus position, and raised the blade above, the lethal tip tilted downward so that he would strike himself below his heart but above the place where his dignity and manhood were taken from him, murmuring the chant to himself...

...only to be snapped out of it when something hot and wet struck him across the face. His flesh was on fire if not threatening to tear it away to reveal muscles and sinew. Screaming, Monty dropped the knife, hearing it clutter to the floor before him. He fell to his side, still rubbing his face until he could open his eyes and see who had done it.

"Lili! Chippy! Geko!" he yelled in outrage. "What was the meaning of that?!"

All three chattered angrily at him, daring to come against him and douse him with hot water, wherever they got it. He growled and clenched his fists. "I have dishonored myself by putting my own soul on the line in my quest, and now I am suffering for it. I'm not willing to spend the rest of my life in fear, or in a prison cell if Hartford the fool cannot get me off! And I certainly will not let these dreams haunt me for any longer to come!"

Geko shrieked and stepped forward, growling through his teeth. The monkey was telling him that they had all rescued him because he was their master, and no matter what happened, they were all linked together as one. Such loyalty was difficult to come by. Lili and Chippy agreed with him; just because times were hard now, it was only the first day, and he couldn't give up now. They had to remind him of the one thing he had forgotten about momentarily because the drinking had made him lose track in his wallow of self-pity.

Monty blinked. "Damned fool," he uttered both to the three monkeys and to himself. "Why did I let this control me? I won't let Yono overtake all reason I have; of course, this is only my first day back in the world, and I know I can survive." Yes, why did he not keep this in stone? This was how Yono _wanted_ him, manipulated his train of thought until he thought to take his own life like this. He found himself glaring at the abandoned dagger on the floor, shining bright, with utter revulsion and felt a single streak down his cheek burn like molten lava. His body trembled, and he lowered his head briefly before he raised it back to look at three of his loyal minions who now gazed upon him with sorrow.

"You three...please do not breathe a word of this to Bates. Not now, and not ever." They ooked and bowed their heads in return, holding the word; he knew he could count on them.

~o~

If there was one smart move to make, it was to leave immediately, but as soon as he did, he found himself in the presence of the monkey ninjas when they gathered outside the sitting room and had heard every word roared between him and the master of the castle - actually, former master, but it still bore the Fiske name.

"Fellows," Bates said with a sigh as he sat down in a hallway chair, with them all gathered around and watching him with beady sympathetic eyes, ooking softly, "I curse myself for my stupidity. I've never once laid a hand on him, but I did what I had to do. I spoke what I had to, but I doubt it will get him to truly see reason overnight - or in any more time to come."

Indeed, Edward Fiske had struck his son a few times in his lifetime, but it had never been Bates who was merely the servant - but truly it had been he who was the guardian. So to finally lash out like that had stung him to his core, but Fiske wasn't even a child anymore, so he couldn't feel completely guilty. Sometimes you needed more...tough love to put the other person on the right path.

One of the monkeys, Miko, stepped forward and chattered, patting him on the knee. These little creatures had been hard to get used to when Fiske first saved them from poaching, wild as they were, but when he managed to tame them and teach them the way of the ninja, they were still very feisty and yet strong-willed, but obedient and understanding. Bates remembered wondering if the Mystical Monkey Power allowed his master to communicate with them better, but it seemed he himself also had a slight natural ability to understand based on the idea humans truly _did_ evolve from simians. Nature had mysterious but amazing, fateful tricks to play.

Just as life itself had its strange, cruel twists and turns. You would have thought Lord Fiske ceased his hunger for power, and it was beyond difficult to tell if he would take to heart what his ex-valet spoke so boldly. Day one and the first bubble burst all over the place. Thank God Hartford was coming tomorrow - but his stomach churned as the possibilities would turn against them and have Fiske back in prison probably for the rest of his life...

Bates smiled feebly at Miko and then his companions. "Thank you, fellows. He really does need help, not only from me, from Mr. Hartford - but from us all. He has to be saved. I know I failed the first time...let's hope this time will do the charm."

The monkeys all looked at each other and then back at him before agreeing with their heads bowed once. He smiled at them all. "I'm glad we're all in agreement."

And so, before noon the next day, the doorbell to the castle rung, and he answered it. "Thank you for coming, Mr. Hartford."

"Please, Robert will do. We've known each other a long time, have we not? But I must say, Monty really has gotten himself into so much. Desecrating museums and ancient tombs all over the globe - and then goes missing for seven years? The publicity will go into a frenzy." He shook his head. "We have a lot on our hands, John. He's alive, the estate and its holdings are yours as we arranged, but now...oh, that is a lot to take in!" Despite the situation at hand, he truly showed light-hearted humor and was fairly confident their favor would turn.

"Robert, it's been a long time - and indeed, it is a lot to consider." The man himself stood in his old smoking jacket, garbed completely to look like his old self, but his hair had not been tamed. He looked worse in face than in wear, which disturbed both Bates and the lawyer just as equal.

"Oh, Monty, boy, oh boy...what has happened to you?"

He chuckled and gestured for all three of them to seat before the fire, which had sealed the secret dojo and the monkey ninjas behind for now. They all knew a guest had been coming and obeyed to be on their best behavior, and that was to keep quiet. "I know, my old friend, and I intend to rectify myself, pay for everything I have done in the past, but I assure you - and I will to the world - that my 'amnesia' -" Only Bates himself was audibly aware of the quotation marks around the word. "- that I am a changed man and wish to prove it."

 **Really, I never thought I would write a scene where Bates has it in him to strike his former master across the face, but it's true when there does come a time when "tough love" is in order. Plus, it's just as unexpected as it was towards the end of "The Monkey's Valet" when Fiske hits his valet in the face following the events of "Monkey Fist Strikes", showing how much he had changed.**

 **Monty does indeed change in "The Monkey King Takes His Queen", but this story takes place three years prior, and there are several months (under a year) to cover for his therapy, so he's not completely sympathetic as of yet or even thinking about completely seeking true redemption.**


	5. Rehabilitation

**This chapter was difficult to do because of legal reasons that occur in the beginning. I didn't want to do the actual trial as VampireNaomi did that in her story, so I only gave hints based off of those events. Nevertheless, I hope the end result was worth it.**

Chapter Five

Rehabilitation

Four months in here.

Four months marking today.

He hadn't bothered keeping track of time as it didn't matter to him ever since his sentence was declared with Hartford's help. That was all he would ever thank the man for. He would have gotten twenty years - which was still life imprisonment, if you ask him - if not for his longtime family representative, and without Bates to aid.

The last time he spoke to Bates, speaking of which, was weeks ago, as there was a part of Monty that didn't want to see or speak to him because of the last time they were in the castle together - he did NOT wish to repeat it in his mind again or to anyone, but he had no choice but to for the sake of his assigned therapist who turned out to be a snooty female who seemed to think she could use him for her own means, whatever they would be.

Dr. Elinor Grave was quite...lovely, but not statuesque so. Women like her made him ill, the ones who thought they could manipulate to get what they want, and Monty knew this the moment he laid his eyes on the blonde woman with her emerald green eyes and her hair painfully tight behind her head; he sneered at her rather than gave her his polite socialite smile schooled since boyhood. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor," he had said chillingly on the first day, which she returned suavely.

"Lord Montgomery Fiske - or should I say, Monkey Fist?"

It was then that he did smile at her, but it was not sincere in any sense. "I no longer have the need to call myself that name," he'd said, "so I prefer Monty, the name I was christened with at birth."

She'd sniffed and leaned back then. "Well, thank you for that, and that gives us the cue to get to work. Perhaps we can start however you want it..." she'd offered, sweetly then, switching gears on him in an instant that it annoyed him. Not to mention, those glowing eyes of hers reminded of someone whom he shared a single night with so long ago, who had by now moved on from him. What hope did he have of _that_ again with anyone else?

This was going to be a long year - or under, if he was lucky.

Compassionate doctors - none such for him, not that he deserved any. He just wanted to be out of here, the sooner the better so he could get on with what Bates had said he could do: _find a weapon against Yono and save yourself._

But the Yono's words still echoed in his ears since the first night he was in the flesh again: _you can't escape me._

He shut his eyes. _Oh, yes, I can try. I_ will _try,_ he swore, but he received no reply then, wondering if the monkey god heard him or not. It had been four months since his return and revelation of himself in person to the nation, and the trial came and went smoothly - so here he was now in the local institution. He had been on good behavior, cooperated - the best he could anyway - and already itched to be cleared and out of here.

His mind replayed the events to his session with Dr. Grave earlier that day.

 _"You have been under an immense amount of stress, I can say. That's perhaps all it is, because of what little your mind could recall after the accident in Japan. And upon regaining it, knowing who and what you really were, must have hit you that much harder when you decided to come back to us."_

 _"What if it was more than that, and I don't even realize it?"_

 _"I don't understand what more it could be."_

 _"Aren't you the psychologist?"_

 _"I am, but I don't let my own patients even to tell me how to do my job."_

 _"Oh, believe me, I have no intentions of it, but I am obviously nowhere near getting better so I can get on with my life."_

 _"Monty, I assure you, you're going to get better -"_

 _"Spare me your senseless babbling."_

 _"Well, that attitude certainly doesn't win you any real friends besides your valet, does it?"_

 _"I don't need or want friends, Doctor, thank you very much."_

 _"Really? When was the last time you spoke to him? Four months ago? That marks since the day you were brought here. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were deliberately shutting him out. He just wanted what was best for you, and you did make it loud and clear you wanted to set everything right - or were you pretending?"_

 _"How dare you presume such nonsense! Of course I meant my word!"_

 _"Perhaps, then, since you haven't told me about these dreams of yours, given you haven't thus far trusted me to tell me what they are..."_

Indeed, he never told her about his dreams because it was utterly humiliating. Perhaps he could have confided in a man regarding his issues, but no such luck without going onto his record. After so many weeks, could he even _trust_ her despite their...mutual understanding? She'd prescribed him with antidepressants, but none of them helped him get a good night's rest. He hadn't slept for ages since his return to the world. He never mentioned the Yono to her, because if this got out and got on his record, then the "truth" would call out on the lie he and Bates had given...

 _"Monty, you should talk to him at least sometime soon. No one deserves to be alone in the world. To shut yourself away and rot away like you don't care? It's beyond unhealthy in both mind and body..."_

 _"And soul."_

 _"Soul?"_

 _"Doctor, perhaps you are right. But...can I have your full assurances this stays off the record, or sealed away good enough at least?"_

 _"Oh...I must have pushed you too hard. I can listen to you and see what we can come to understand..."_

If he had to ask himself what had come over him, the question would be an understatement. What came over him was a snap in himself that she had to tell him that keeping it inside made it worse. Perhaps Dr. Grave wasn't as...manipulative as he thought she was.

Monty suppressed the nightmare-memories of Yono to himself because it was not only to protect himself and his broken reputation - but to preserve his pride. He had always been proud of himself, but his body had been invaded by a god for years, and time in his realm had no real meaning, only an eternity of darkness. No one would have believed him, but he was legally insane in their eyes, was he not? Maybe he was NOT, because Bates and the monkeys knew the truth with him - and so did the cheer squad.

 _Kim..._

He had to admit that he found himself thinking about her for the first time and had almost forgotten, which angered and infuriated him, even though the circumstances now were changed forever. That night...that one night...of wild, raw passion and instinct, barriers fallen only for once just so he could have a taste of the young woman who set him aflame both in an aggravating sense as well as in his heart. Miss Possible was a worthy adversary unlike the pretender buffoon, but then she left before the morning broke, leaving him without the Monkey Queen he decided he wanted her as after the episode with the Monkey King's Amulet. It had been useless to get her to be that; he would have killed her trying to take that power of the amulet from her, but no...

She ended up turned to stone briefly in the final fight with him and the Yono, so seeing her like that satisfied him to no end, and he could have tasted victory if not for that infant. There was so much anger and rage for her as she belittled him like his father always did for him...what had he been thinking that things would have changed after a single night in his bed, in his ancestral home and across the ocean from her home?!

Never mind now; she was married to Stoppable, and they had a young child now - a daughter, but the little one's name escaped him. "Just how IS Possible doing now these days?" he remembered asking Bates just shortly before the trial, just for his own curiosity. He was still angered that the man had to speak to him the way he did, and Monty loathed himself for letting Bates get away with it.

 _"You're still wealthy and respected - even if your reputation is down the drain - so why not turn away from what has never given you anything but grief, and take up the life that used to at least keep you content? That way you can find your time to...find a weapon against Yono and save yourself."_

This was where he found himself dwelling on now, after recalling the horror in the eyes of Dr. Grave when he finally told her the truth - and saw it all in her eyes that she wasn't sure if she could believe in the dark arts as he, but she understood him and promised to keep all of this off the records, and anything he would give her in return, which would be a form of the truth, to be sealed away from the public's eyes or even anyone trying to look into his private affairs.

He lay on his side, looking up at the window in which the moonlight poured in on his form. The bed he slept in, wearing crisp, loose garments of a patient-prisoner, was comfortable compared to the one he laid on in the Middleton Penitentiary. At least he had no cellmate to share this room with, no one to hear him screaming at night in his sleep, and no one to bother him. He relished his solitude...yet he, begrudgingly, confessed that it was lonesome because he hated feeling the way he did each time he awoke from the nightly torment.

 _"Bates..."_ His voice might as well be a ghost to his own ears that he wasn't sure if he was alive anymore. "You were right."

Yes, perhaps the man _had_ been right; he was reacting the way he was for nothing. He used to think rationally, yet he dove in too deep often enough that he never saw it until it was too late. Like he erred when he unearthed the Yono to put an end to his enemies once and for all. Yes, he acted too rashly, too impulsively - but once he sorted this major problem he placed on his own soul, he would never go back to that demon again. He would pick up where he left off but with more careful efforts and secrecy.

However, he frowned when he remembered his ex-valet calling out his grief for his actions in Japan most notably and the four jade idols long before that - and what he did not seem to recall was the Monkey King Amulet. Monty considered bringing that up...but then it would lead to confessing what he had done to and _with_ Kim Possible - no, Kim _Stoppable_ now. Bates would most likely lash verbally again, but he would take it.

He flinched when he _felt_ it again. While the dreams themselves came every often, this seldom did, and during the day was a blessing he didn't get. Monty snarled to himself as he still had yet to tell Grave this personal matter of his. But perhaps at their next session, he would be able to - only with the week to pass, he might have second thoughts again. He lay on his stomach right after pushing his pants down so they were around his ankles, allowing his legs to breathe beneath the blankets. His fingers rested themselves briefly on where Yono's tail and sometimes his paw - and even his own - had touched him, the external pubis, the fur where his thighs joined being the same texture as on the back of his hands and feet: an odd combination of soft and coarse.

He grunted. "Think about something else," he muttered to himself, and to no one else in particular. Yes, think about something else, like her - futile as it was, but the memory of young Kimberly was all too fresh in his primal memory: her sun-kissed body, her supple flesh, her firm breasts and hips, her blazing emerald orbs glazing with emotion, her wild fiery hair spread out like a pool of molten amber as he ravished her...

Instead, his prayers were not answered, and cruel fate overtook man's basic instincts.

Oh, not again...

 _You know, Monty, this part of you - this fur between your legs around the most sacred part of your body, as we all have. Animal and human alike...it fascinates me._

 _Quit touching me there!_

 _Ah, but it's fun to do so. It notifies you that I am paying attention to this part of your body. Tell me the actual name of it that I fear escaped me..._

He whimpered as he remembered those elongated fingers wrapping around him, finding his own doing the same - and they were simian attached to a human limb. They continued to tug on the curls as he recalled the humiliating question as well as the thrust into his body from behind as a warning if he did not answer.

 _Answer me now, pet._

 _T-this hair...is called pubic hair. Common on both human man and woman, first beginning at an early stage called adolescence._

 _That's an interesting term. I wonder why and where it came from, not that it truly matters to either of us now._

Monty buried his face into the pillow in despair. Perhaps he should have done something before he let himself be committed in this place, and he wondered if he would ever do so once he got out of here. He ought to have shaved off every inch of this hair so to avoid the reminder of his degradation while he touched himself there when the feeling came unbidden. However, if he did that, then it would mean leaving the places further in the caverns of his thighs as to avoid cutting anything important. But would it _really_ solve his problems?

He moaned when he stroked himself, Yono's voice filling his ears yet again. _This section of you...had you been truly female, you would have borne my offspring, Monty._

His stomach lurched then and there in the midst of his self-pleasure. Thank God for small miracles, but sometimes during the day his stomach got so queasy that he couldn't eat any of the food in this place. It was just as worse as prison cuisine, and he felt himself losing weight. Sometimes his stomach would dance around that it made him wonder if something really DID rest and move in his body. But there was absolutely no way he could be pregnant; he was a _man_ , for goodness' sake! Yono was just toying around with him on this.

He found himself now laying on his stomach, his ministrations picking up and causing him to shove the blankets down from his upper body while keeping the lower half covered. His body no longer could rest as the pressure spread and pumped with each movement of his hand on himself, like one particular event when he was aware that he was laying on his back and with his legs spread - so he was taken this way, and the tail penetrated him from behind while the deity himself was having the primetime of his life between Monty's legs, encouraging him: _Thrash for me, Monty pet...writhe and squirm...scream my name..._

 _YONO!_

At the same time, he came in the sheets, aware of the stickiness between his thighs and running down, dripping onto the mattress beneath him, but he was too tired to care. Disgusting as he felt, he allowed a dark, dreamless slumber to come and overtake him elsewhere while the moon continued to radiate her grief on him. The English lord turned his back to her because he didn't want any sympathies she might harbor for his suffering.

~o~

Six months came and went, and they were the longest in Bates' life. Even longer than the last seven years without his former master.

He and Fiske did not call each other over the course of his rehabilitation - or should he say, his façade of one just for the sake of acquiring the means to save his soul from the evil? He sighed and shook his head. He hadn't changed a bit after all, and yet from what Dr. Grave was telling him, Lord Fiske had confessed the truth as to where he'd _really_ been, and it horrified him, but she promised that she would take it to her grave for her patient's sake. She was purely logical, but she was willing to understand and risk her job even.

"He's in a worse state of mind than I had believed," she'd told him before adding, "but not in the way another would label him. He's arrogant, blinded by his desires, and paid for it. His psychological trauma has been impacted greatly, yet at the same time, he's managed to retain what he could of the man you once knew him. He is deadly serious about fixing the error of his ways, Mr. Bates."

"I half-heartily agree, Doctor."

He could just see the frown in her eyes if not on her face. "You question this validity of your master's well-being and sanity?" she asked curiously. He had to shrug with one shoulder.

"I've known him for years, madam. In later years, before I had to leave his service to save myself, I tried my best to steer him on the right path, but it was in vain."

"Understandable, yet here you are when he comes back - and from what he told me in confidentiality, you and the 'monkey ninjas' -" The chuckle was mild and stifled before she collected herself. "- retrieved him. The point is that you had to come back and do the right thing for him. Whether he would fool anyone, myself included, or not is irrelevant. I've given this a great deal of consideration and have made my decision to release him from this asylum and back into society. I did my best with him, helped him the best I could, yet I don't wish for him to rot away in here. I've treated patients since I was a younger woman and have seen more than any woman to come before and after me; I am taking the risk to let Monty go free, and to allow you yourself to speak to the museum in hopes of requesting that they allow him back amongst their staff. For the sake of his future."

Bates confessed that he was extremely stunned by this decision. Lord Fiske continued to suffer nightmares, to obtain his old manipulative ways even if he hadn't gone out to steal artifacts again for his personal gain, and he had the unhealthy habit of reaching downstairs to relieve himself - which hadn't been quite the greatest to reveal to his therapist who wasn't a man. Yet at least she was far more rational than Amy Hall. "You're requesting after half a year that he reintegrate into society," he stated, and Grave smiled.

"Precisely what I am saying. He might be tainted, yet he still obtains the old respect that he has, as well as his royal title and everything he had to leave to you. No one ever stops being what they choose to become; I know Monty is still a relentless researcher and scholar, so that is something the museum cannot afford to reject, but truly, who am I to make that final decision?"

He nodded somberly, only picturing the looks on the faces of the great staff of the British Museum when they were encountered with the request that Lord Montgomery Fiske had completed his rehabilitation and was cleared of all charges of stolen antiquities across the globe as well as any attempts to harm innocent lives. Fiske might think twice before harming another soul, but there was no telling about after he dealt with the Yono in time. The unknown to come frightened poor Bates the most that he tried not to think too much about it.

"I agree with this decision," he'd said to Dr. Graves, "but what of his...unhealthy habits?"

She sighed, a faint blush creeping to her cheeks. "I'm a woman, yet I am skilled in both anatomies," she answered with a sly smirk. "It's not an easy habit to overcome, but perhaps you know what he can do to busy himself if this happens again following any more nightmares to come. I intend to bring the decision to the board in a couple months' time, so in the meantime, Monty really deserves to speak to you. I understand the last time you conversed, it was not well." Her emerald eyes softened then, knowing, that he knew he could not hide it from her.

"Yes, His Lordship is as proud and stubborn as ever. That part of him, plus his cunning, won't ever change."

"Those traits never leave a being."

And so, two more months after that, he stood at the entrance of the institution, nervously fidgeting as he was the only one to come and get Fiske so he could bring him home. His freedom had come, but there were more severe matters to settle. Monty had agreed to get back with the museum, but his demeanor was far from enthusiastic as it meant putting up the polished, polite shell he no longer prided on. Facing the press yet again would be another serious issue.

"But remember I said this could be a good chance for you to -" Bates had started that first and only time two months prior that they sat before each other at the hospital, and the state the fallen nobleman had been in was harsher compared to the wild ninja man stated before.

"Yes, yes, against Yono. I intend to follow through on that, but it is going to take an out kill convincing argument for the National Museum to take me back," Fiske muttered, lowering his gaze to his lap so his hair fell before his eyes. His voice was dull, but it was crystal clear and slowly regaining its confidence.

Now the man himself left the main entrance, spotting him right away and striding towards him. Lord Fiske was wearing a loose collared shirt and fitted slacks, his hair tamed the best it could be, but there were still dark circles under his eyes. He appeared to have lost weight, too, for the gaunt lines on his face were becoming prominent. His eyes were still very cloudy, but the old shine was slowly returning to them.

"Milord," he said, holding out one of his hands to the man, who merely stared at it for a moment before bringing one of his own, covered by a black glove to disguise his abominable mutation, to rest into it only because it was offered to him. "Will you be well again?"

It was more than difficult to answer as well as to even ask it on both their parts. Monty looked at him blankly before he sighed and shook his head.

"One day," he breathed. "One day, Bates...but not today or soon."

 **So, this chapter concentrates mostly on Monty's life in the psych ward - and more into the Yono memory-nightmares. And it had been a tough challenge to figure out how he had gotten back to being an archaeologist, just so he can find the answer to saving his soul from the Yono's curse once and for all, which will carry on in the next chapter (and eventually into "The Monkey King Takes His Queen").**

 **In addition, sooner or later he had to remember what he and Kim experienced together in "The Deadly Embrace of Desire" - one night that could not repeat itself, but it also nearly destroyed her and Ron even though this was long before they got together (please, no one criticize me for this). It was inexcusable, but the wrong is rectified eventually, and he and Kim are ultimately a couple in "The Monkey King Takes His Queen", and he's a better man. :)**


	6. A Weapon to Seek

**So, final chapter. I wasn't going to make this big and extravagant like TMKTHQ, but I did enjoy it anyways. :D It ties in with a continuation of the beginning of the first chapter of that story, but you will also see a well-known Japanese legend involving a certain eight-headed serpent and an artifact I created with its help - including a mention of a real Japanese deity figure - as well as that from my boyfriend who loves the myth. This artifact is especially important for Monty in earning the trust of the National Museum in letting him return to them.**

 **Read and review when you finish, but once more: NO FLAMES.**

Chapter Six

A Weapon to Seek

 _This time was completely different than the usual. According to his tormentor, being inside him as well as so many touches could only do so much, and there was one thing he'd wanted to do "for" him for awhile that he never imagined he would._ But why? _he dared to ask._

Because the mouth has to have its use now, don't you think?

 _He just as soon as moaned at the hinted meaning as to what the creature meant; he endured every position they could get into, but this one had never come to mind until now. He didn't even want to think about this at all, but it was happening now..._ Yono, I don't think I can -

 _The other being laughed._ Oh, no, no, you misunderstand, pet. I am not asking you to give it to me - _yet. He shuddered at the image conjured up in his mind at the task he would find himself doing soon if not now. The tail caressed his face like a tender father assuring his son he was not in trouble - completely opposite of his own in life._ Isn't this counting as a pleasant experience, Monty? I'm sure you have never done this in life...nor has another ever done this for you.

 _He shut his eyes then, trying to shut out a familiar pair of expressive jade eyes that haunted his dreams and daylight hours before and after that one night neither of them would be lucky for again - because of everything he did to her, everything she did to him, and overall because of their differences...but most of all his doom. She would go on with her life and learn to forget about him. His silence was the deity's answer, and it satisfied the other._

Excellent. Which means I shall be the first; then your turn will come.

 _Now he could not suppress the gasp that escaped his lips as the tongue found its way between his legs, tasting the tip before moving over the top of the length, then swirled around and back down. His legs and then his entire body trembled that his face scalded with shameful enjoyment._

~o~

Another night like this, and waking up at two in the morning was expected, only for Chippy to visit him when he happened across his master in the kitchen. Barely even two months passed since his release from therapy, and very little improvements on his mental state made a difference if his return to his old career had done so.

Monty sat at his study desk, surrounded with stacks of old texts and everything that made him feel welcomed back, with no more running and hiding - and no Team Possible to swoop in and deal with him. They must still assume that he was still in the ground where he belonged. It was a great relief that he wouldn't have to deal with them at all, but who knew how long that peace would last.

Another nightmare about the demon who held his soul in the palm of his paw. There had been little unwanted tightening below his waist and no use of his hand to save his troubles, thank goodness, and to replace it all were tea and meditation - add in medication with Dr. Grave's kind hand, but those damned antidepressants could be so limited on his sanity. She had known good and well what she was doing when she stated she'd let him go just to help him as being locked up would not solve any of his problems. She knew he wasn't mentally mad, but if anyone found out, her license would be lost along with her own reputation just to help a "monkey man".

Ah, to feel fresh air on his face, the smell of freedom - it was like he wanted to just forget the controlling world once again, tear off his clothes and run into the wild again, but he knew he couldn't do that. At least, not for a while. Not only he did what he knew he had to do, and it enraged him. Not being able to live on energy, but at least his research would help.

"Milord...will you be well again?" That was what Bates had asked him as soon as he set foot out of the institution of London, the shock in the older man's eyes evident at the sight of his physical changes. Monty felt it in his bones and swore to get to the dojo with the monkey ninjas firsthand, if only for today and then phone the museum the next. No doubt Bates had already spoken to them along with Grave.

"One day," he'd said in response. One day, he said, if not today or tomorrow even. Six months of being confined and illness as well as the horrendous acts in bed alone, tormented by hellish mental desecration...he wanted to just distract himself and pick up meditating at the castle as rehab and medication distracted him from entering another place of serenity.

When the morning broke, he was up without even pausing to relax as there was always little time to relax. Work called, training called, and then a cup of tea following lone meditation. He had to say it was better than just sitting and going mad. Bates stopped nagging him, but Fiske knew better. He knew the man better as he'd been raised since birth and served until it did not work out with his new course in life. Now Bates was back as though it never ended between them.

Monty half expected the man to return to his family again at any time, but he remained if not officially as his servant. He frowned to himself, wondering why on Earth Bates would do this for him, as if he still owed his debt to him - and then his monkey ninjas all gathered before him after training that morning to ook their answer, having joined Bates' side and shocking their master to his core.

"Oh, he cares about me, eh? Did he CARE about me -" he sneered at them all. "- when I needed him as we pursued the last of the jade monkeys, or when I came back after trying to fulfill the monkey monk's prophecy, hmm?!" They stepped back but didn't cower. It appeared they were no longer afraid of him, which angered and surprised him. He'd always known they respected him as their leader, but this pushed the boundaries of bold.

"So, you've all turned against me, haven't you? I go away for six more months after finding that you have all remained for me - but now I come back and see you taking Bates' side," he stated, but their screeches objected before ceasing even though he didn't command it to end; the thought did cross his mind. Monty exhaled and slumped his shoulders. "I see. Fine, I'll keep him around, but only just to owe him as well as the lot of you for saving my life."

The word soul was left unspoken as they all know that saving that part of himself was still far from over.

He had to put the matters of reconciliation with his ex-valet aside and focused on the present, in which he found himself submersed in the opened book. Years ago, he had the copy of the ancient legends of Yamato no Orochi - the great eight-headed serpent who devoured young virgins each year for a century before the sun goddess slayed him with the very sword made from a scale of the beast by her brother.

Monty had to suppress a chuckle as he had to reread the myth again purely because it was one of the greatest tales from his youth that he took seriously even if it wasn't simian-related. He still laughed at how each head was removed after the demon himself drank a vast amount of sake to be dazed.

But it was not the sword that killed the creature that he was commissioned by the British Museum to find, in order to earn their trust as well as to be allowed to come back to them. It was the notorious creation that had come to exist after the sibling deities defeated the eight-headed snake: the Mask of Orochi.

When the mask itself was first designed, it belonged to an elder of the nearby village who saw the corpse of the eight-headed monster and remembered the story of its strong hide, so sought to make a mask as means to protect his son. Yet he passed on before he had the chance. The mask was then given to his child, who gave it to his child and so forth - until one day it fell into the hands of one "Yamato" who saw no value and wanted to get rid of it by giving it away. But the mask itself was cursed, and all who had it who were not a member of the elder's family were stricken ill, and DEATH claimed them within a week.

"Yes, this is perfect," he mused aloud as he poured through his notes and the old pages. This was thousands of years' worth of finding what the legends of Orochi himself neglected to mention so often in American culture. "The museum needs something not worth being simian in order for me to regain their trust."

There were various shrines of the gods and goddesses throughout Japan - but as for what became of the mask after the death of Mr. Yamato in the legend, it vanished mysteriously, possibly taken to a shrine near one of the various seas. It had to be one dedicated to Amaterasu herself, the one who slayed the beast. He would not be surprised if the tomb itself became defaced with abandonment and neglect, pillars broken and the prayer slip broken which hid the mask from the world...but no one had ever found it, according to historical archives. Montgomery Fiske would be the first, and this was perfect to get his reputation back on track - if only to secure means to find a weapon against the Yono. There was ALWAYS a weapon against a god in the legends.

He found himself holding a possibly accurate drawing of the Mask of Orochi, drawn to the sight and almost exhaled. It wasn't up his own alley in the field, but it was fascinating nevertheless. Depicted was a rough, crudely carved surface to look like the face of a _shinigami_ \- god of death, to translate to anyone who didn't understand - painted black with red around the eyes and the lips of the mask. No doubt that if Bates saw this, he would shiver.

~o~

It was a good thing that the trip to Japan might be the last one to take, because he felt he was too old to travel anymore, but barely months ago had been worth it to retrieve Lord Fiske's petrified form - so he hoped, and thus far he hadn't regretted any longer because he saw some of the changes in the man.

He'd seen the ancient text and the drawing of the hideous mask he was commissioned to locate by the museum. "I shall not need you for the trip," Fiske told him smoothly as he'd donned his old explorer's garments and pulled on his gloves and boots, the latter making the man wince because he was used to being barefoot with his prehensile appendages. But at least he would be able to remove them when he touched down across the globe.

"Will the monkey ninjas be with you?" he asked, rubbing his hands together, receiving a chuckle.

"Of course. I can never be without them. We are taking the charter."

His father's old first-class charter had been left to Bates in his will, and now he was back to put it to good use. "This is the first time it's been taken off the ground - since myself and the monkeys," Bates said.

Fiske chuckled. "Should be most interesting. I have to say I'm looking forward to this. If the cheer squad -" He stopped himself right there. "No, I don't know if I can use that to call them again, given they are not children anymore. If they think they can stop me, I'll flee with my life instead of fighting them and allowing myself to be taken again."

Bates frowned. "They ought to have heard about your rehabilitation by now, milord," he suggested. Or if not, his mind added, then the entire world couldn't know every detail, or maybe they just did not care.

"Perhaps."

"I wish you good luck, milord."

Monty smiled at him then, and it wasn't slyly or even forced - it was genuine that his old caregiver was finally not objecting to anything he planned, but if one thing did go wrong on this excavation, then Fiske was back to below the earth, or in jail again. He didn't want all their hard work to fall off the cliff yet again. "I needed to hear that, Bates."

~o~

If he had any hard feelings towards the National Museum, he admitted he had none when they allowed him back in when he brought in the wondrous Mask of Orochi and was awarded for it. Given he experienced enough in his lifetime, he took the risk to believe in the legend and not put it over his own face. There would be more chances to take, but this was not one of them. As he grievously made the mistake so many years ago...

Dr. William Robertson, the museum's chief benefactor, took over not long before he had let himself be ensnared by Yono; of course, the man was lenient and allowed bygones be bygones. In addition, he and Dr. Grave were longtime friends; in short, she was a friend of his family, so Monty automatically assumed that was why he was brought back so easily than he should have been. But it had been done, and he had less weight lifted from his shoulders.

"What's in the past remains in the past, Monty boy," the older man told him. He was older than Fiske but younger than Bates, married with two or three adult children, and a decent man that Monty knew he would have no trouble with. "You've proven yourself true to your word. The museum will have the Orochi Mask on display in no time and bestowed as one of the greatest treasures to be found in ages."

Monty had bowed his head. "I am honored you would see it that way, sir."

Inwardly, his impatience returned. If only there would be a chance to come across anything linked to Yono...

Today he reclined in his favorite chair by the fire, surrounded by his monkey ninjas as they took a break from their training to listen to anything interesting he might share with them, and Bates joined them like the good old days - and that was when the great article on the front page had hit the globe, stunning many:

RON STOPPABLE LIVES UP TO HIS NAMESAKE

Monty gritted his teeth. "Well, I'll be damned." He read the story aloud, as much as he could even though there was more, detailing the pretender's heroic efforts.

 _Ron Stoppable, husband and partner of world-famous heroine Kim Possible, has passed away yesterday at age twenty-six. The former sidekick whom many of Possible's former enemies have constantly paid no mind to, and few care to remember in achievement, has given his life for the safety of the people of Middleton and possibly the entire world. The dynamic duo thwarted one of Professor Dementor's nefarious plots one last time involving the Downtown Middleton Center which would have taken the entire building and then the whole town...but it was no match for one Stoppable who lived up to his name. Strangely, without use of his hands or any powerful technological equipment, the married father of a precious three-year-old girl risked his life to stop the bomb from going off - and it was witnessed that he and his wife of three years, and lifelong partner-in-crime, shared one last moment together before he died in her arms. The services will take place in their hometown of Middleton in two more days' time. This is a tremendous loss, especially for the family._

The monkeys looked wide-eyed at him and then at each other in shock, surprised all the same at the bravery of their master's great rival. His hands shook and threatened to tear the paper in half; instead, he settled on crumbling it up and tossing it into the fire. So, the fool put his life on the line in order to stop Dementor's last plot. According to the papers just before he destroyed them, the genius himself had been locked up for the last time, but no final word on his ultimate fate, not that it mattered to Fiske in the slightest.

He envied Stoppable more than he did before, but one fact bothered him most: he'd left his wife and child without a male protector, but Kimberly? In the years Fiske knew her if not on the most cordial of terms, she was strong and independent. She could handle herself and the little girl who was all she had left of Ronald. A small part of him had hoped that maybe someday if she didn't find another man, given it was obvious she would never be able to move on from the father of her child...

Monty shook his head clear of those thoughts. It wasn't that he hadn't thought of it before, but he couldn't afford any distractions now - but internally as well as with the monkey ninjas, Chippy being the exception, he rejoiced that his enemy hadn't become the Ultimate Monkey Master.

"What now, milord?" Bates dared to question. "Celebrating with tea and brandy combined?" The insult was clear in his eyes that it set the master himself aflame inside, but he responded coldly.

"I see no harm in it, Bates, but I won't go too far and dance around the castle. Stoppable bested me one last time along with that little infant sister of his," Monty sneered, "but one last time he really did show he was more than a buffoon."

The other man sighed and sank in his seat. "Milord, you're judging too harshly. His family lost him - especially the wife and child. Had you wed a long time ago, you would have felt it if you lost them, and they would have experienced the same tremendous loss as...Mrs. Stoppable and her daughter have now." It must have been difficult to call her a missus as she was once a miss to them both. Monty could not help but laugh.

"Yes, they have," was all he could say as he had no experience in family mourning - or any form of losing one you loved. The only sense of grief had been that one time now left in the past.

He was becoming too distracted and needed another that didn't involve the knowledge that Kim Possible - Kim _Stoppable_ \- was now a single mother raising her daughter on her own, and had placed her world-saving career on the mantle to focus on her child. But that was not all: she was an archaeologist now, like Lord Fiske, which amazed him. Why would she have picked his career choice? It didn't matter either; it was not like he could casually phone her for old times' sake and catch up. They had been far from friends, far from anything closely related - and she would most likely spit at him if he set foot in her home.

Four months passed from there, and it was by then that one day he finally came across it during a weekend. Ever since the museum took him back, he was back to his old habits of never stopping for anything other than the tea Bates served him - the nightmares continued to come, but he always dealt with them involving said beverage as well as meditation, and his medication - and it had been discovered after having been buried so deep that it had escaped his precisive eyes and evaded his crafted hands.

Bates had told him he would find a way to reclaim his soul - and he had. He'd taken time and effort to find it, even if it had been more trickier than he would have liked - but the wait had been worth it. His heartbeat reached his ears as he looked upon his discovery of the two missing keys _linked to the Yono_ \- and with no mention of trading his soul for a price.

"Xian the Divine," he breathed, moaning and closing his eyes, "and her famed blade which she used to drive the Yono down to earth." What made it better: she was a distant cousin of the Han. He'd found it; he'd found what he was looking for, and now he knew that he could not wait any longer to find the exact location of the Blade of Xian.


End file.
